A quiet day of relaxation...

In Parikkala this morning, the whole crew!

Sandy picking wild strawberries

Looking out to the lake- Deadushka.
With the necessary licence now safely obtained, we can set sail in this- but not for Russia!

From the balcony!
It's been cooler today, with the mercury only getting up to around 21c or 22c this afternoon, but we spent the morning in Parikkala itself, which is only about 5 minutes away by car. It is a small town, around the same size as Juva, which we stayed close to last year, and doesn't really have many shops, but Baboushka and Olga still managed to spend around 90 minutes in the biggest shop, a hardware type store that seemed to stock just about everything. I'm sure they found the best bargains there...

This afternoon, we just relaxed close to the house. I got the licence we need to allow us to go in the rowing boat, onto the lake (it's free, but must be obtained to allow safe use of the boat!) and while this was going on, the rest of the family went for a walk to pick strawberries and blueberries close to the house. Once everyone was back, we heated up the lakeside sauna and had several sessions jumping in and out of the water. The water itself feels warmer today, probably because the air temperature has been a bit cooler. There's been a strongish breeze, which has been welcome, as there appear to be more mosquitoes here than we have encountered anytime previously in Finland- so the wind has kept them away.

Tomorrow, we're going to go to a very unusual place, a world-famous sculpture garden that is only around 3kms from here. There are about 500 life-size sculptures, all made by the same man, and having had a look at the website, it all looks decidely spooky! I'll post the link to it tomorrow, with photos!